Carrick, Blind, Jones, Rojo all out for the Chelsea game - What now?!

unitedbhoy said:
Core of the team still there. What the hell is everyone so worried about? Man up. Chelsea have been playing shite for months now. They are without Costa - their main goal threat.
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This. I'm still pumped. Everyone's turned into wet blankets.

Chelsea are getting done. Smalling will literally eat Hazard. Fellaini's match-winning header will be so emphatic, it will puncture the ball.
 
Go 4231

Rooney and Herrera midfield. Young fellaini mata up with rvp or Falcao leading he line.
4 fit defenders at the back
 
Valencia did really well on the right side of central midfield against Everton. Wonder if he's an option to do the same against Chelsea? Rafael would give us a bit more quality going forwards on that flank and the two of them have always linked up well in the past.

I may have nicked this idea from @Sultan, come to think of it.

If we stick with the same formation (and I hope we do) we've got a few options for the Fellaini/Mata roles (including Fellaini and Mata, obviously!) so the least disruptive choice would be to drop Fellaini to the Carrick position.

This doesn't inspire me with confidence, mind you. Although playing Rooney as a DM would be a fecking disaster.
 
Quite incredible really. Seen someone else post a similar team, but I would be inclined to go with:

de Gea
Rafael Smalling McNair* Shaw
Valencia, Herrera, Fellaini
Mata, Rooney, Young
​
*McNair or Blackett. Not really fussed.

That is really frustrating though. If it was just Rojo and Carrick out, we'd be fine but all four? No where near as confident now. It looks as solid as we can get really. No Rooney in midfield either.
 
pierrethesnack said:
Fellaini's so unbelievably inefficient in that role. Not good enough passing range and not far enough forward to be the target man and sneak into the box.
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He is high in confidence and should be able to do a decent job. We don't have too much of a choice unless we play Herrera deepest with Fellaini & Mata just ahead. Di Maria on the right
 
Never fecking easy for us is it. Was always going to be difficult taking any points there this just adds to the challenge. Hoping none are long term injuries, otherwise could find ourselves back in a battle to stay in top 4.
 
Mata also did okay at home against Chelsea in CM. Perhaps we bring him in there and put di Maria on the right?


Ahh, we're fecked.
 
It isn't going to be pretty for whoever plays in the DM role. Herrera, Fellaini, Rooney etc all have a lot of reasons why they shouldn't be there, compared to the few reasons as to why the yshould.
 
saivet said:
Quite incredible really. Seen someone else post a similar team, but I would be inclined to go with:

de Gea
Rafael Smalling McNair* Shaw
Valencia, Herrera, Fellaini
Mata, Rooney, Young
​
*McNair or Blackett. Not really fussed.

That is really frustrating though. If it was just Rojo and Carrick out, we'd be fine but all four? No where near as confident now. It looks as solid as we can get really. No Rooney in midfield either.
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that team dosnt look bad actually
 
What now is that we lose, like we were likely always going to even with a fully fit squad.

But that's not the end of the world. It was important that we took maximum points in all the matches leading up to this one to counterbalance the likely loss, and we did. We'll still be in a good position even if we do lose.

I genuinely think that after the Chelsea match we could close out the season with 5 straight wins and lock down 3rd place and even perhaps get 2nd depending on what Arsenal does.
 
Rather the injuries hit for the Chelsea match rather than any of the 4 matches preceeding this one. Can see Mourinho settling for a point tomorrow rather than risking the 3.
 
time to do some shoehorning. di maria can play as center back along with smalling. Falcao as a holding midfielder. Should be interesting.

It's mind games.
 
saivet said:
Quite incredible really. Seen someone else post a similar team, but I would be inclined to go with:

de Gea​

Rafael Smalling McNair* Shaw​

Valencia, Herrera, Fellaini​

Mata, Rooney, Young
​
*McNair or Blackett. Not really fussed.

That is really frustrating though. If it was just Rojo and Carrick out, we'd be fine but all four? No where near as confident now. It looks as solid as we can get really. No Rooney in midfield either.
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Probably the best team we can put out. Not sure who I want playing in the centre of that midfield three, though.
 
Would love Reece James to get a chance in this game. He's on loan though I think?

Rothwell is with us though isn't he?
 
saivet said:
Quite incredible really. Seen someone else post a similar team, but I would be inclined to go with:

de Gea
Rafael Smalling McNair* Shaw
Valencia, Herrera, Fellaini
Mata, Rooney, Young
​
*McNair or Blackett. Not really fussed.

That is really frustrating though. If it was just Rojo and Carrick out, we'd be fine but all four? No where near as confident now. It looks as solid as we can get really. No Rooney in midfield either.
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That's the team I'd like to see. Valencia did a good job when he played CM this season.

We're pretty much fecked with whoever we play to make up for Carrick anyway. Just go for it.

Typical a bomb gets dropped on the squad just as we're settled.
 
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I really hope Blind or Carrick has a miraculous recovery. Otherwise it'll be hard to set up decently. Put Herrera and Fellaini at the base, with Rooney Mata and Di Maria in front.
RVP/Falcao in front.
 
I think LVG will go with Falcao up front. Rooney in midfield. McNair next to Smalling and bring Shaw back in at left back.
 
TwoSheds said:
Would love Reece James to get a chance in this game. He's on loan though I think?

Rothwell is with us though isn't he?
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Yes thankfully. He'd get torn apart most likely.
 
The extent that several people have gone to in order to leave Di Maria out of their predicted starting XI :lol::lol:

This is a good opportunity for Di Maria to get back into the team.
 
I wouldn't sacrifice our two most effective routes of attack just for the holding midfield position. Rooney should play at the base with Falcao as the striker. He's are best long passer after Carrick and if he keeps it simple he's a good short passer as well which will accommodate both Fellani and Herrera.

If this isn't working, then the next candidate would be Herrera. Anyone you choose for this role will have an underlying weakness, Rooney's would be sloppiness, Fellani's discipline and Herrera being lightweight so take your own pick on which will be less fatal to us.

For the other positions, Falcao in as ST, just because I feel he will go after Terry and Cahill a bit more than RVP would. Shaw as LB and McNair as CB. No sub appearance for Di Maria on this one please.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Valencia did really well on the right side of central midfield against Everton. Wonder if he's an option to do the same against Chelsea? Rafael would give us a bit more quality going forwards on that flank and the two of them have always linked up well in the past.

I may have nicked this idea from @Sultan, come to think of it.

If we stick with the same formation (and I hope we do) we've got a few options for the Fellaini/Mata roles (including Fellaini and Mata, obviously!) so the least disruptive choice would be to drop Fellaini to the Carrick position.

This doesn't inspire me with confidence, mind you. Although playing Rooney as a DM would be a fecking disaster.
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Fellaini Valencia and Herrera sounds so what solid. Would allow us to play Rooney, young and mata further forward as we have been.
 
That would be nice to discover that Van gaal transformed Rafael into a CM. :wenger:
 
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